Be extensive flooding for about a week, if not longer. In the Lower Colorado region, there should be flooding for the rest of the week. Over in victoria and cuero, there should be ongoing flooding for a few days. Its important for people in all of these regions as well as in every county thats affected by storms that you continue to listen to and heed local warnings about evacuation. When you look at comparisons, the population size and square mile size of the area impacted both by the hurricane swath and the flooding is far larger than katrina, far larger than sandy. You heard him. An area larger than sandy and katrina. The head of fema will not estimate exactly how many people have been displaced by their homes by the the storm because the number is constantly on the rise, and even for those who manage to escape, the flood waters followed. These stunning images showing a shelter inundated. These folks already displaced are forced to flee again. Outside of these shelters, let me show you this baby being cradled in a trash bag exemplifying grace under pressure. Elsewhere, tragedy as authorities find a shivering toddler floating in a canal, clinging to the body of his lifeless mother who died trying to carry her child to safety. The lifethreatening danger on the roads out there captured on Live Television right here on cnn. Watch. Reporter look at this. Get out, dude. You got to you got a power cord . A harrowing moment as our drew griffin and his crew ran over, were able to pull that man look at this, out of the car using a rope, visibly shaken but alive. And here is another just breathtaking visual, just to put this all in perspective, this is what interstate 10 normally looks like. Now, look at this. That exact section of i10 looks like a sea scape. In harris county, about 30 of all land is under water. Thats an area bigger than new york city and chicago combined. So, lets begin live from a boat in houston, cnns brian todd and crew, you have been, brian, with these rescue crews all day. Tell me what youve been seeing. Reporter brooke, this is the Lakeside Forest neighborhood of houston. Were in this labyrinth of apartment buildings called lakeside place. Check out these cars here. This is the result of the controlled release from the Addicks Reservoir flooding the Buffalo Bayou near here. All of this was today, since 1 00 this morning. It wasnt even happening during the brunt of the storm. Look at this. Water up to the tops of cars, up to the doorknobs and locks of these apartment buildings here, the first floor windows and look at this. Just incredible flooding here, well after the brunt of the storm has passed, and residents this group of private rescuers on this airboat were Just Cruising around this neighborhood to see what residents are going to flag us and want to get out. Heres one of them, don. Don, tell me what happened. You tried to save a man who was trying to make his way across these flood waters from his flooded car to his apartment. What happened with him . One of the neighbors saw him go down, collapse, we dont know why. He went over and flipped him over so hed be face up and yelled for help and three of us went over to help him. We pulled him into the laundromat and a couple inches of water on the floor, for at least 20 minutes we were doing chest compressions and mouth to mouth on him. We had 911 on the phone walking us through it and the most helpless feeling i ever had in my life but really it was the other three people who were really doing the work. We loaded him up in a canoe, brought up him to the front here and loaded him into a bass boat and brought him to the fire truck up there. The entire time we were with him, we never got any sign of life, no pulse, no anything. Reporter couldnt save him but you guys really did your best. We did everything we could but we just, you know, hate to say i dont think, you know, qualified in that situation. We tried. Reporter thanks for trying. You did a great job trying to help him. This is one of many stories around here, brooke. This apartment complex. Heres the problem. Its a labyrinth of buildings and walkways and driveways. But if you try to get out of your apartment, you got nowhere to go unless an airboat or some other boat comes and gets you. You cant walk. The water here is at least chest deep. And there really is just no other way to get out of here to a road thats not flooded and those roads are a long way from here, brooke. So these people, if theyre in here now, are going to be trapped unless they get to one of these boats. Theyre going to be trapped and have to ride it out here. And you just never know, even as boats and some parts shallow, some parts deep, you never know what youre going to come across as yall are going along in the labyrinthlike areas of texas. Brian todd, thank you and your crew and the guys who are on that the guys and gals on that boat trying to help out. Well check back in with you as we continue to hear just these incredible stories. After making landfall for a second time, harvey has now basically swallowed another texas town, port arthur in east texas along the louisiana border. Harvey dumped more than two feet of water there in just 24 hours time. The citys mayor says the entire town is under water, even some shelters have been flooded, and the nations Largest Oil Refinery there, shut down. Lifethreatening flash flooding, of course a major concern and its still raining. People are being asked to use boats, dump trucks, whatever they have to rescue those left stranded. Kaley is in orange, texas, for us, the closest we could get to port arthur. What have you been seeing . Reporter well, brooke, it really feels like were in the Second Chapter of the rescue operation here. When we first got here, about two and a half hours ago, you couldnt see the lines down the middle of this street. Now these waters receding just a bit so its passable if your pickup truck is big enough. So, the rescue operation has really been happening in the waters on the other side of the interstate. They really feel like theyve got that in land, theres an apartment complex where people were hesitant to leave but efforts now focused on the right side of this what used to be a roadway now waterway. But people then looking for dry land. This was the only place to find it underneath this interstate overpass when we first got here, people had been here for three, four, five hours. The problem is they were looking for somewhere to go. Now with this load ahead of me passable, theyve opened up a school as a shelter. Some of these boats now that the rescue operation on the water is in a good place, theyre loading those boats back up on their trailers, hitching up them up to their pickup trucks, people are piling in the back of the pickup trucks in those boats on the trailers and thats one way for them to get to these shelters. Kaley, thank you. As close as we cant get to port arthur there in orange, texas. You know, weve been talking about the punishing amounts of rain that have completely flooded the city of port arthur. I have on the phone with me right now Alexis Mitchell who is apparently trapped in her home with her family. Okay. Getting word we lost alexis. Hopefully were going to work on getting her back up because its my understanding she keeps calling. Now im being told we have the mayor of houston with me on the phone. Mr. Mayor, are you with me . Mr. Mayor, its brooke baldwin. Dont have okay. Listen. Its all right. Its Live Television and were going to work on that. Coming up, were going to work on getting the mayor and alexis and talk about this destruction, remarkable moments of survival, strangers helping strangers. At one point, this group forms a human chain to rescue one man from his car. Also the challenges and strug e struggles facing some volunteer rescuers in houston. Well talk to one boat who used his boat to save lives in katrina, why hes now leaving houston and going home. Youre watching cnn. Well be right back. Its time for the biggest sale of the year with the new sleep number 360 smart bed. It senses your every move and automatically adjusts on both sides to keep you effortlessly comfortable. And snoring. Does your bed do that . The new 360 smart bed is part of our biggest sale of the year where all beds are on sale. And right now save 50 on the labor Day Limited Edition bed, plus 36 month financing. Ends monday hi. And i know that we have phonaccident forgiveness. 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Back to our breaking story here and the aftermath of harvey and the just absolute devastation in houston and beyond. We have the citys mayor, mayor sylvester turner, who is live from the convention center, you know, full of thousands and thousands of people all needing just shelter over there. Mayor turner, thank you so much for taking the time. I cannot even begin to imagine what your world is like. Lets just first begin with, we heard from the chief of police in houston, the big message from you guys is telling folks who have evacuated, dont go home because of, what is it, fears of electrocution, live wires. Is that the case . Well, i think we are assessing the situation. There are a number of people that are in the shelters or away from their homes and so we want to work as quickly as we can to transition people out of the shelters to get them back in their normal lives, people are going to go home, theyre going to assess the damage that was done. Look, we already have trucks that are moving today to pick up debris, people who have been back to their homes, theyre pulling out the carpet or the wet wood, putting it out in front of their houses. Weve got a number of crews that are out today picking up debris. Were going to ramp that up aggressively, but the key is to get us back as quickly as possible, back to our normal routine. Just so im clear, mayor turner, again, because the chief acevedos said dont go home. Is it okay for people to return home if they can . For those who can go home, they ought to go home, okay . We do have some water that is still in some of the neighborhoods, it has not gone totally down, but as that water clears, and people are able to go back to their homes and assess their situation, people are already starting to pull out carpet and other things and putting those things on the side of the road and thats why the trucks are rolling today, picking up that heavy trash, that heavy debris. And so were taking it neighborhood by neighborhood, but the city is slowly getting itself moving coming together and moving forward. Ive said to the astros, for example, they were scheduled to play ball on friday night. I want them to play ball. And so we can do multiple things at the same time, but it is important for us to move forward, to start getting back into our normal routine, all city employees, for example, are due back at work on tuesday. The schools, most of our schools, will resume on tuesday. And so, you know, were not going to stay where we are. People have pulled together. People are working very aggressively with one another, and i couldnt be more proud of the people and the businesses in this city. All right. So you want to have a ball game friday night, but mayor, theres still a number of people, it sounds like, according to our crews, you know, who still need rescuing. Do you have any idea how many people are still out there . Because i know a lot of people dont want to leave their homes. Well, there are a number of people who are look, we have gone pretty much and many of these neighborhoods, for areas, for example, on the west side of town, homes are being flooded because of the release of water from the dams. Those individuals are having to be rescued. In another part of the town, in northeast houston, kingwood, for example, that area, some of the people had to be rescued as of yesterday, but the situation in that area is starting to stabilize so thats a plus. We want to make sure that especially if there are seniors or people who are disabled, who are in their homes that need to come out of their homes, were going to attend to them, but we can do multiple things at the same time. For people who need to be rescued, were going to rescue them. For people who are able to get back into their homes, were going help them to get back in their homes and start the rebuilding process. For people who are in the shelters, we are registering them, we are assessing their needs, were asking fema to come in, in a major, major way, so we can quickly process them and transition from the shelters back into their normal routine. This is one city that can do multiple things at the same time, but we are not a city that says, woe is me, and then were just going to stay and allow this storm to conquer our spirit. Its not going to conquer our spirits, fully recognize the impact that it has had, and its my hope, for example, that fema will bring in a lot of dollars so we can really ramp up our debris removal. When we faced hurricane ike, the cost of that debris removal was 70 million. I anticipate its going to be a lot more because of hurricane harvey. That is a whole other chapter of what you all will be dealing with as waters do recede and sort of what lies beneath and that cleanup process. But dont mess with texas. Mayor sylvester turner, i hear you loud and clear. Thank you so much, sir. Im going let you go. You have much bigger jobs right now. Listen, were all seeing all kinds of rescues coming out of texas. When boats were not around, these people used their own bodies to save this elderly man trapped in his suv. This is interstate 10 in houston. At least a dozen forming this human chain as the waters rose to as high as the rescuers necks. Hold my hand. You all right, sir . Anybody got a blanket or something for him . Do me a favor. Im going to pick you up. How about that. The person who took this video says this elderly man went to the hospital, was reunited with his son. Cnns Miguel Marquez joins me from houston. Miguel, we talked to the mayor. It sounds like he wants to have a ball game friday night. He wants folks to start picking up the pieces. Tell me where you are. Tell me what it looks like. Reporter well, look, i mean, the you can see sunlight today, and that is a huge improvement and that is lifting everyones spirits and no rain is coming down. Theres a little bit of rain possibly for this afternoon, but nothing like weve seen in recent days. This is state highway 6. This is one of the areas that has stubbornly stayed high. The Addicks Reservoir area. The reservoir is about a mile down this road on a normal day, so it is way, way up. I want to show you what theyve set up here in terms of a command post. They have boats that are able to get in and out of here. There are still people in the neighborhoods here. Most of them have refused to leave, so they did evacuate a hotel a short time ago just up down the road here, down the river here, because the people there had been there for three days, not wanting to leave. The boats typically pull up here. A lot of them have been pulling out and going to other areas. The problem right now is in these sort of areas, is that the water is high in other reservoirs around the area, and they are letting that water run off, and its going into places like this. In most places in town, the water is receding very, very rapidly. In places where theyre not getting that runoff from other reservoirs. Boats have a difficult time operating in some of these conditions in part because theyre very its very shallow water, so bigger boats cant get in there. Those airboats that are very effective in shallow water, sometimes the current is very strong and its hard for them to get around. Three members of a civilian boat crew, their boat capsized overnight. Two of them are now missing. One of them hung on for dear life to a tree and was rescued but this is dangerous work that these people are doing and they are doing it willingly and they are coming in from all over the state. Brooke . Thats incredible, though, that some people just dont want to leave their homes. Thats a whole other piece of the story. Miguel, thank you. Lets talk about that. Once again, this need for help is so great but theres another call for boaters to rescue the stranded. The city of port arthur, texas, right there on the louisiana border, made that call, plus its directing flood victims to put out a white towel or a sheet, you know, on a roof to signal help for rescuers to come get you. But as weve been talking about, some volunteer rescuers are finding flood victims are not entirely cooperating and are actually turning the rescue boats away. With me now, bradley johns, hes on the phone, on the road in northeast texas. I understand he drove, you know, more than 300 miles from home in louisiana to texas with his dad and a friend to respond to the call for these rescue boaters. Bradley, youre live on cnn here. I understand you turned around and you all went home because people didnt want your help . Tell me what happened. Well, thats not exactly correct that we went home because people didnt want our help. You tell me whats right. Okay. Well, we did come down Early Morning yesterday, and i mean, really was impressed with how the texans and people from louisiana, i mean, everybodys just out. There was tons of help. There was a lot of boats, and the biggest problem was logistics and, i guess, local law enforcement, guard, whoever coordinating where we were needed. We did finally find a place around 1 00 after about three or four hours of searching. Once we got our boat in the water, there were several boats in there going into three different neighborhoods, and we were told by a policeman that we werent to go in there because the residents were not coming out and boats were coming out empty. We kind of hung around because, quite frankly, didnt have anywhere else to go. You know, wanted to make the most of our time. We saw two rescuers, two boats come out and they had a families with them. We said, hey, they said people arent coming out. They said, no, thats not true, you guys need to go down in there. So john and i went and went into the neighborhood, i think the entire neighborhood, and it was other boats there, we were knocking on doors, yelling for people. We did meet an elderly woman and she refused to leave. We tried to tell her, you know, what the authorities were saying, the waters going to come up four more feet, and for whatever reason, she wouldnt go. We met another young couple, and they said they were ready to, you know, tough it out. And so anyway, you know, that went on for three or four hours, we searched around. We still want to just didnt want to leave any stone unturned. Sure, of course. It sounds like a combination of, you know, the problem, and i say that lightly, it sounds like so many people have opened up their hearts and their boats and are helping folks out that a lot of people have been rescued but it does sound like yall came across some people that didnt want to leave. Did you try coaxing them out of their homes and why was that not successful . Oh, yeah. Absolutely. We well, for example, the elderly lady, you know, john and i talked, and i said, well, maybe shes scared. We had smaller boats and of course we were soaking wet, we look pretty rough. Maybe shes scared so i offered, i said, look, theres bigger boats. They had dump trucks. Not very glamorous but maybe its better than a boat for her and she just flatout refused. And so how does this i know bradley, you and your dad helped folks out. I cant believe it was 12 years yesterday, you know, hurricane katrina. How does this, you know, the death toll nowhere near, but in terms of the vast space of floods, how does it compare . Yeah, i mean, you know, in katrina, we didnt actually go down in the floods. We did drive the day after to go and rescue some family members who and, you know, of course the wind damage, we noticed like driving down to katrina, it looked like an atomic bomb went off. Down in houston, we didnt see maybe one or two trees or whatever. So its just flooding. And of course the city of houston, you know, or the greater area is laid out like you have a lot more hills, even though its a flat area, you have more hills. New orleans is almost a bowl. Yeah. The geography, the to ppography. Thank you and your dad and friend for hopping in your car to try to help the good people of texas. We appreciate that and im sure they do as well. Thank you so much. Safe travels. Listen a lot of you are listening to these stories, look at that precious face, and you want to help. You can. We have compiled a list of ways you can help those dealing with the nooflooding in texas. Weve got a list of vetted organizations. Just go to cnn. Com impact. Next, in the wake of harvey, celebrities are chipping in, including houston rapper tre the truth who is doing his part to rescue those in need. Well talk to live coming up next. At holiday inn express, we cant guarantee that youll be able to contain yourself at our breakfast bar. Morning, egg white omelet. Sup lady bacon fruit, there it is but we can guarantee that youll get the best price when you book with us. Holiday inn express. Be the readiest. You myour joints. Thing for your heart. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. 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Do you want me to go back and look for it . I will. I mean a lot of bad things could happen. You need to call the bank. I dont know how else to tell you, you need to shut that card off [woman 1] its off. [woman 2] what . [woman 1] i can turn it on and off in my wells fargo app. [woman 2] huh i feel better already. [woman 1] good. Back with the breaking news. Lets just get right to it. On the phone with me, the mayor of beaumont, becky aimes. Just give me an update on the situation where you are in beaumont. Well, right now, were in the middle of some high water rescues. We had stopped doing nonemergency rescues yesterday at dark. We did announce that our citizens early on in the day. However, we did still do emergency rescues. So at daybreak this morning, thats what we started doing, and i guess you could say its going smoothly. We are we were very prepared to begin this rescue. We do exercises all the time. I cant say that weve ever prepared for anything quite of this magnitude, because we have had our Emergency Operation center stood up since wednesday, and we started getting very heavy rains on saturday night, early sunday morning, so it is just been its just like a neverending storm. Its actually still raining here right now. I understand its, you know, 26 inches of rain in the last 24 hours, but mayor ames, i do want to ask you about the child. Weve all heard the tragic story of this child that was found clinging to her mothers lifeless body. Can you update us on that . Is the child okay . Yes. We are being told that the child is okay. It was an unfortunate situation. The mother was driving on a street, and i guess the water started pulling her away, and when she went to get out, there were businesses around her, and she stepped down into a canal and im sure she thought it was the street. And so i was actually at the Emergency Operations center when this rescue took place, and i have to say, its a very sad situation. But the First Responders on the scene did an excellent job but were really sorry that the young lady died but at least the baby, we believe, is going to be okay. Okay. Mayor ames, thank you very much. And of course just our thoughts with the family and also with those First Responders who are doing yeomans work right now. Thank you for calling in, the mayor of beaumont, texas. Were hearing from officials, also celebrities are opening their hearts and wallets to help victims of hurricane harvey. Houston rockets owner Leslie Alexander is upping the donation to 10 million. Houston texans Football Player jj watt started an online fundraiser thats raised more than 5 million. You have Sandra Bullock and rachel ray each giving 1 million to harvey relief, but there is a houston rapper who has taken a more handson approach to helping his fellow harvey victims. Trae tha truth joined the growing list of volunteer rescuers after he was rescued from his own home, one of the many reasons hes been honored by his hometown for a decade now. Theres actually a trae day in houston on july 22 for his humanitarian work for this great texas city. So, trae tha truth is with me now from the convention center, and trae, first, lets talk about you. Thank you for being with me. I know you were supposed to get the keys to the city yesterday in some big ceremony. Mother nature had other plans. How are you . Hows your son . Were blessed, man, you know, i have three little boys. Two of them are on the east side of town. Ive been communicating with them through phone, just hoping the waters dont get highhigh like that over there. I mean, were its devastating out here right now. Tell me, trae, just your decision to i dont know if you and your friends, you know, grabbed a boat and started rescuing houstonians. So, i believe monday afternoon, i had to evacuate. I was trying to be one of the people that was just going to ride it out, and it got to a point where i knew it probably wasnt going to slow down, so a few people came and actually rescued us. We actually walked through the water for a while. I mean, to the most part, we were safe. The dangerous part is you have alligators, snakes, and other stuff when youre out towards the country part, and i reached out on social media because a lot of people in houston, weve been sharing addresses for those who are saying its hard to get through 911 or other numbers, and so when we were doing that, i actually reached out and asked if anyone had boats, and somebody contacted me from san antonio and a few friends from the army, from austin, they came down and weve been doing it since. Who have you been rescuing . And has anyone turned you down . The area we were in yesterday was grand mission. It was really it was unbelievable. Like, ive never seen a whole neighborhood submerged under water, and if you could imagine, its a lot of volunteers. I partnered with the Fire Department out there, so imagine street by street, the whole neighborhoods filled with water. And how you would see cars coming to stop signs, youre actually seeing boats coming to stop signs. Its a lot of people who were rescued yesterday, but it was a lot of people that decided theyre just going to wait it out and, you know, it gets kind of frustrating because its like, you dont want to be the one to leave and know theres a chance you might not be coming back that way, but i mean, at the end of the day, you have to respect everyones wishes. Thats right. Thats right. And you pointed out the water. You dont know what youre, you know, boating in, walking in. Did you see any crocodiles or snakes . Oh, yeah, weve seen snakes. Definitely seen snakes. The dangerous part about it is, it gets deep in certain parts and then it gets shallow, so its too deep for you to drive trucks in, but then at some points, it gets too shallow where the boats can go, so its kind of like we have to gauge with the boat and then a few of us are always hop off the boat to walk in front of it to see k devastating out there. So at the end of the day, as long as i got my hands and feet, i feel like its my responsibility, especially with me representing houston, for us to come together. Wow. Good on you. Ive got one more question for you because youre there at the convention center. Thousands of people have sought shelter there. Whats the number one thing theyre all tell you . Right now, here, and not to sidetrack the question, its just its crazy. It looks like a whole other city inside the george r. Brown right now but one thing i can do is i have to commend everybody because everybodys partnering together, whether its the volunteers or the people walking in, but right now, its no certain thing that theyre saying. Its just everybodys just cooperating with each other, trying to embrace each other with open arms. So thats whats going on now. After i get done volunteering, doing some more rescues, im pretty sure im going to come there because even though i have a lot of entertainer friends thats been constantly calling my phone asking what they can do and my main thing to them is, at least let us get as many of us safe this week as possible and then well come together with a game plan. So right now, man, i just commend everybody in houston. And i commend you. Well let you get on your way with the houston Fire Department to those rescues. Trae tha truth, thank you, and on that note, lets go to springfield, missouri. Here is the president. Thank you very much. Its so nice and we appreciate it. And all of the people outside that were waving proudly the american flag, believe me, we appreciate it very much. I want to thank jerry cook, steve bernie, and all of the tremendous employees here at the lauren cook company for hosting us today. Where is jerry . Where is jerry . Thank you. Thank you, jerry. What a job. Ive heard so much about you. Its a great honor to know you, jerry. Thank you. I also want to welcome the many distinguished guests who are here with us for this very important event. Secretary of the treasury steve mnuchin. Thank you, steve. Secretary of commerce, wilbur ross. Small business administrator, which, by the way, is a very large business, i will tell you that, linda mcmahon, friend of mine. And from the purely political world, a really great friend who did such an incredible job with his beautiful wife at the inauguration, senator roy blunt. Thank you. Thank you. Where is he . Thank you, roy. The governor is here, whos doing some job. That you know, governor. Thank you. Special. For Lieutenant Governor is here. Thank you, Lieutenant Governor, and our great members of commerce, i want to thank you all for coming. Theres so many. I was asking the governor and roy, i said, do you think i should announce them all . I have so many. But im honored that theyre here. Representative sam graves. Representative vicky hartzler, has been terrific. My friend for a long time and just somebody that he liked me from the beginning, and i liked him, billy long. Wheres billy . Billy. Right, billy . Right from the beginning. Blayne, wheres blayne . Good. Thank you, blayne. Representative jason smith. Jason, thank you for everything, jason. Representative ann wagner. Hi, ann. Good job, ann. And i dont know, we have so many more. Anybody i forgot . Right . Everything okay . Good. I got it. You, i remember more than anybody. Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. And to the congressmen, congresswomen, we appreciate you being here. Thank you very much. Before we begin, id like to take a few moments to discuss the deeply tragic situation in texas and louisiana. As we all know, our gulf coast was hit over the weekend with a devastating hurricane of historic proportion. Torrential rains and terrible flooding continue to pose a grave danger to life and to property. Our First Responders have been doing absolutely heroic work to shepherd people out of harms way, and their courage and devotion has saved countless lives. They represent truly the very best of america. We must be vigilant. We must protect the lives of our people. I was on the ground in texas yesterday to meet with governor abbott, who is doing, by the way, an incredible job. And local officials, so that we could coordinate the very big and unprecedented federal response. In difficult times such as these, we see the true character of the american people, their strength, their love, and their resolve. We see friend helping friend, neighbor helping neighbor, and stranger helping stranger. And together, we will endure and we will overcome. To those affected by this storm, we are praying for you, and we are here with you every single step of the way, and i can speak, i know, for the people in this room, every step of the way. To those americans who have lost loved ones, all of america is grieving with you, and our hearts are joined with yours forever. The citizens of texas and the gulf coast need all the prayers, support, and resources our communities have to offer. Recovery will be tough, but i have seen the resilience of the american spirit firsthand all over this country. To the people of houston and across texas and louisiana, we are here with you today. We are with you tomorrow, and we will be with you every single day after to restore, recover, and rebuild. Our thoughts and prayers remain firmly with the citizens and our fellow people, people, great, great people, all affected by this tragedy. Were also glad to be back in the heartland with the very, very fine folks of missouri. And i said to senator blount and i said to billy long on the plane coming in, can i say missouri or should i say missoura . And they said whatever you want is okay so i said, good. But im especially pleased to be here in springfield, the birthplace of a Great American icon, the legendry route 66. Who would have known that . President trump there in springfield, missouri. We just wanted to dip in and hear those comments on hurricane harvey. We saw him in Corpus Christi and austin. He is there beginning this effort to sell this sweeping overhaul of the tax code. Apparently congressional leaders in the white house havent hammered out the details of that, so were standing by for that as, of course, Congress Goes back to work next week. I was just handed some new information just quickly here on harvey. The death toll now, harveyrelated fatality stands at 24. And again, the president , according to the white house, will be heading back to the floodravaged region this weekend. Coming up, it could be weeks or months before some families may actually be able to go home. Next, well talk to a texas mom who is stuck in a hotel with her two sons, one of whom relies on insulin. And just in, two houston airports plan to reopen soon, bush intercontinental and javier plan to resume limited Passenger Service today at 5 00 eastern. Full Service Expected to resume this weekend. Back in a moment. Booking a flight at the last minute doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. We believe in food thats anaturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. So there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. We believe in real food. Whole foods market. When only the best will do. Tempurpedic delivers. Tempur material provides up to twice as much pressure relieving power, so you wake up feeling like a champion. Through september 17th, save up to 500 on select adjustable sets. Tempurpedic sleep is power. Back to our breaking news here. You know, so many texas families cant go home for weeks, maybe months, and some may not be able to go home again. In katy, texas, Lakesha Wright spent her 42nd birthday getting out of her house. She took her two teenage sons and dogs and headed to a local hotel. She shot this video while she stood outside in the rain for an hour waiting in line to buy basic supplies and shes with me now. How are you holding up emotionally, how are your sons . Theyre doing great. We were definitely one of the lucky ones because we got out in the middle of the night on saturday morning, since i knew that the streets were very prone to flooding outside of our neighborhood. So, we definitely have been through, i feel, less than a lot of my neighbors, who were helivacd and boated out of the neighborhood a few days later. Evacuating in the middle of the night constitutes lucky in your book. Yeah. I know you decided to evacuate when you heard the Barker Reservoir would be released. Is it your youngest son, ryan, is the diabetic . So that was a huge factor into why you guys needed to get out. Thats correct. Yes, hes 12 now, but hes been a type 1 diabetic since he was 10 months old and so with storms like this, growing up in the houston area, weve always had to be very vigilant about making sure that we maintain electricity and can get to Emergency Care if needed. So, i was hyperaware of what was at stake if we werent able to get out of the neighborhood. And do you have any idea how your home is . Its under water pretty we probably will have between 4 to 6 feet of water because of the reservoir release. Weve been in the house for 17 years, and its never flooded. Weve never had issues with flooding at all. We werent in a floodplain zone at all, which is why we didnt have flood insurance. What actually flooded us was the release of the Barker Reservoir. And so we are fairly when my last neighbor left, i dont know, maybe there was a few feet of water in the house but it will probably be four to six feet of water in the house and we probably wont be able to get back into the house for six to eight or more weeks. Oh, and thats a thing, a lot of people dont have that insurance because you werent in a floodplain but its the reservoir issue. Just lastly, what is your near future look like . Youll be living out of a fema hotel for the unforeseen amount of time . Yes, were in a regular hotel this week, and then well check out of here and on monday, we have a reservation to do at least 30 days in a fema hotel. And in the meantime, and thats one here in katy, so that when the kids do go back to school, theyll hopefully be able to be close. My youngest sons school is flooded, his junior high, so hell probably have to go to a different school. But for now, we will be housed by fema in some form or fashion until we can figure out housing. My goodness. We havent even begun to talk about that, back to school time, schools flooded, changing schools. Laquishe, our best to you and i appreciate your spirit. Thank you. Thank you so much. Among the death toll here, i just told you that now 24 people have been confirmed dead in texas. Stormrelated. This family found inside of a van was partially submerged in water, six members of the salvidar family, including four children, tried to escape the rising waters but didnt make it. We were able to retrieve the van, pull it out of the water where it was em banked and we can now confirm that four other individuals are in the back of the truck as well so we have a total confirmed six dead. 56yearold Sammy Salvidar was trying to get his elderly parents and their four great grandchildren to safety this weekend but the flood waters apparently swept their van off the road and into a bayou. Sammy survived by clinging to a tree branch, but apparently he could hear the children screaming and crying desperately trying to get out of the van. Sammys brother broke down and wept when he told cnns erin burnett about the youngest child in the van, a 6yearold little girl by the name of daisy. Oh, she was a i mean, as little girls are, i mean, she was just a adorable. She was always laughing, always, i mean, you couldnt help but laugh. Excuse me. I mean, the minute she walked in a room, she excuse me. Its okay. Yeah, i mean, she was she was great. I mean, you know, i didnt see her much. I wish i would have seen her more often before mom and dad really got sick, they used to take care of her and they were always talking about daisy, oh, she did this and she did that and they were always just playing with her. I mean, she was a very good little girl. All of them were. Our hearts go out to the salvidar family. Debbie salvidar, 16 years of age, dominic, 14, xavier 8, and little daisy 6. Along with 84yearold Manuel Salvidar and his wife, 81 years of age who planned to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in october. Back in a moment. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com